Portraits from Berlin's Underground

Berlin's Freies Museum has a new exhibit from photographer Matthias Koslik. The focus: The people who make the city's S-Bahn run like clockwork every day.

Germany’s reputation for punctuality and precision isn’t lost on Berlin’s S-Bahn or Stadtschnellbahn, the faster of the city’s two public train lines. Signs on nearly every platform announce exactly when the next two or three trains will arrive; electronic signs on board indicate what stops are next; and a pre-recorded voice makes announcements to passengers. The system seems to run itself. The photographer Matthias Koslik set out to show the human face behind the red and yellow trains, which move 1.3 million riders through the city each day like clockwork. Koslik showed up at the different S-Bahn workshops on the outskirts Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, Schöneweide and Oranienburg at 5 a.m., when the light would be best to take portraits of the trains’ mechanics as they were finishing the night shift. An exhibit featuring Koslik’s photos is now on display at the Freies Museum in Berlin until December 22. Check out some of the portraits here: